Devin Akin

CTO, Planet 3 Wireless

Wireless Security

Devin Akin

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Sondra Schneider, the host of Frontline Security, speaks with Devin Akin about wireless security.

In 2001, Peter Shipley and Matt Peterson moved around San Francisco with a WiFi-enabled laptop for a week with a program which detected unsecure wireless networks. The results of their study were shocking. They concluded that more than 80% of the wireless networks were not secured. In 2005, another study estimated that this number had grown to nearly 90%. With the adoption of wireless technology rising rapidly, security is likely to become a significant bottleneck while deploying enterprise wireless networks.

The 802.11i specification for wireless security is pretty good as it provides for better authentication and better encryption with AES (which is considered to be unbreakable at this point). Wireless IDS (Intrusion Detection Systems) have grown better over the last few years with capabilities like rogue device detection and device classification. While there is currently no metric for measuring wireless security, it is wise to follow industry-standard best practices, have a security checklist and do baseline and penetration testing periodically.

It is also important for wireless security professionals to update their knowledge regularly, get certifications on related technologies and practice real-life scenarios before actually doing any enterprise-level wireless infrastructure deployment.